Amanda Bridals

A couple of weeks ago i got out and shot Amanda's Bridal photos.

We started fairly early at the International Peace Gardens in Salt Lake City.

It was actually the first time i had been there while the flowers were actually in bloom, last time i went everything was dead - i guess it was winter.

Please check out the complete photo shoot here: http://alanjphoto.com/danielamandab/dandab.html. No, i'm serious - please check it out. I really need some honest feedback on these photos.

One of my top priorities has always been to make sure the bride is happy with her pictures, and i got the impression she may not have been too happy with her bridals. i wanted to get some input from everyone else on whether as a bride-to-be you'd be happy with these bridals if you had paid $400 for the complete package (engagements, bridals, wedding and reception). Please feel free to be honest.

I think there may have been a couple of other factors that influenced the pictures that day... That morning i know she forgot her flowers and earrings, but those are things i don't have any control over. Later that evening i got the impression she may not have been feeling well and asked if she wanted to reschedule, but she wanted to continue. Again, out of my control - and i almost feel i can't be responsible for those factors. What do you think?

Overall i thought the pictures turned out great, but then i looked back through them again and now i don't know. i'm too biased either way - either too critical or not critical enough.











After the International Peace Gardens we took a break and agreed to meet later on and drive down to American Fork Canyon for the final shoot. Amanda had actually debated between AF Canyon and the Great Salt Lake for sunset. Unfortunately, at the time of the discussion the skies were clear and i indicated that the sunset would probably not be that spectacular - yeah, i was wrong.

We ended up wrapping up right before it started pouring rain. And on the drive back to SLC the sunset was just awesome! Doh!

I really love these falls (you may have seen them before here and here), but it's kinda funny because while we were shooting, someone had setup their campsite right here - tents and everything. It was actually kind of a pain keeping all their stuff out of the photos all of the time.




Anyway, please let me know what you think. i had indicated that if she wanted another shoot that she'd have to give these pictures back and not use them. Obviously though, if i get enough negative feedback i'll just do another shoot. I naturally want all of my clients to be happy, but at the same time i don't want to be taken advantage of. While it may sound bad, there's a reason some of my packages are $400, $500 and more and there's a reason that they're NOT $3,000 (i wish).

Havasu Day 3: Edits

Man, i'm a slacker. I'm not even close to a vacation post per day! I tell ya! I guess just work and other stuff (like broken down cars) have kept me fairly busy lately. But here are the Day 3 edits i promised from Mooney and Beaver Falls. I also finally got some of the GPS issues worked out and should be able to post better maps here soon too. ("Soon" of course is relative, but i don't think anyone really cares about the maps anyway).
These first few pics are Mooney Falls. I used one of my favorite softening techniques on this edit, but i'm not sure how well it worked. (Don't forget that you can click on the picture to make it bigger). i used it on a bunch of these pictures to add to the dreamy feeling of watefalls, but i'm wondering if the soft feel detracts from the canyon's walls too much. Let me know what you think.

I was hoping to have some time to catch up next week while i'm out of town on business. I'm going to Williamsburg, Virginia for a week for my first of three (seperate) weeks of the New Leader Program course. I'm excited and nervous about the course. Technically, this should be a great opportuntiy to learn some valuable skills and will really benefit my resume and future job opportunities. But i'm also nervous that i'll be the youngest person in the class and that the local parts of the course (it's actually 6 months long) that i have to complete at my job will detract from its effectiveness. We'll see.

But the point was that i was hoping i'd have time to catch up some of these vacation posts while i'm away. Then i realized how much cool stuff there's going to be to do in the area and how little time i'll have!

Check it out: Colonial Williamsburg is a whole one mile away from my hotel! I think the potential for great shots (like from Rachel's recent trip to San Francisco) will be great. But you know, i'll be the photographer. That and by the time i get out of class everything will already be closed.

I'm really bummed about how little time i'll actually have out there. But there was only one flight out from SLC to Newport News on Sunday that would actually get me there in time for the orientation. So i get there too late to do anything on Sunday. And our hotels are only booked through Friday, and my flight out departs (again the only one) right after the last class. Doh!
I know these next two are the same, but i softened one and sharpened the other, what do you think, which do you like better?

As if having Colonial Williamsburg right down the street wasn't enough, there's also Busch Gardens Europe (i love roller coasters), the Jamestown Settlement, as well as the Yorkktown Historic Battlefield. Maybe they'll let class out really early a couple of days. Somehow i doubt they'd appreciate sick days, kinda ruins the whole point of the trip too.

And as if not having enough time weren't enough, of course there's this too. Let me tell you, i sure have missed humidity, er, no wait, no i haven't. But who knows, maybe it'll just be cloudy (and really hot and humid) and i'll be able to get better pics. (Cause that's the kind of luck i usually get, you know).
This is your first view of Mooney Falls hiking back up from Beaver.

I've had a few comments on people wanting (or not wanting) to come down here and all i have to say is i can't wait to do it again. Make sure you call me, 'cause i wanna go too!

And if you don't think you (or your kids) can do it, well, you're crazy. Number one, there's packhorses (definitely what i'll be doing for my gear next time) and number two, there's a helicopter! Oh, and you could ride the horse down too (not just your bags). And if my pictures haven't convinced you that the $160 round trip helicopter ride would be more than worth it, well, then i'm a worse photographer than even i thought.

The place is definitely magical and hopefully i can get at least a couple more posts out over the next few days as well as some material for some future Williamsburg posts (and by "future" i of course mean a couple of months).

Mueller Park

We interrupt this vacation report... Wait a minute, who am i kidding? No one has made it through an entire post yet. Apparently, my goal of one trip post per day has already fallen by the wayside. Doh! I was just too busy. And and now i'm a little behind, no wait; i've fallen behind. There, that's better.

Anyway, the other day i finally convinced Joe, my brother-in-law, to take the dirt bikes up Mueller Park. Mueller Park has long been one of my favorite mountain bike rides, and i had seen dirt bikes on the trail a number of times (there are also some signs indiciating dirt bikes are permitted). Anyway, there's a couple of trails that head off from the meadow at the top that i had always wanted to explore. i hoped they would either connect with the City Creek trails or traverse the ridges north or south. But the trails would usually get too rocky to be enjoyable on a mountain bike. On dirt bikes i figured we could actually explore for a while.

Unfortunately, either the trails were really, really old or were just game trails. (Joe is actually standing on the trail, and where i'm standing, taking the picture, is also on the trail).
The one that went up eventually became too overgrown to even find on foot.
And the one that went down looked like it would probably connect in City Creek, but was so overgrown and steep that it wouldn't be enjoyable on a bike. Oh well, now i know.

Since the last time i rode up there (probably four weeks ago), the flowers have really popped up all over the place. Really, really pretty. And going back down the backside was actually much more enjoyable on a dirt bike.

And we only got a couple of crusties from anti-motorcycle trail users. Oi! Don't get me started on anti-trail or anti-trail users. No seriously, you don't want me to get started - you know i'm long winded.

I highly recommend this trail to mtn. bikers, hikers, and yes, even motorcycles. However, i must insert that i also highly recommend that bikes and even more so motorcycles, exercise extreme caution when riding this trail. It's not that it's difficult, it's just a very, very popular trail and thus very busy.

My personal recommedation is that motorcycles only ride in off-peak times or just take the backside trail. I only attempt to ride it on my bike when i figure i'll be one of the first or last ones on the trail, or in the middle of the week between breakfast and lunch or right after lunch. Just because you're allowed doesn't mean (ignorant) people won't complain and try to have you banned from the trail - jerks.

These are actually all pictures from the backside of Mueller Park (except the couple up top while we were exploring). We tried to get off of the front side as quickly as possible to annoy as few people as possible. But don't get me wrong, the vast majority of the trail users we encountered were extremely polite and pleasant.


It absolutely amazed my how green this trail still was! Oh, and some kind soul or souls cleaned all the obstacles off of the trail, so it's all ride-able, well, at least for someone like me. It may have already been ride-able to everyone else before.


This is actually a little closer to the bottom. The picture does not do justice to all the wildflowers that were out. So pretty!
I wonder if planting some of these in my garden would be a mistake...

Oh, and Dacia and Joe have been asking me for a while for a picture (hopefully) like this, is this kind of like what you were looking for?

Havasu Day 3: Mooney Falls & Beyond

After a very comfortable night’s sleep in a very comfy bed and an air-conditioned room we all woke up – rather late, I might add. I always have these lofty intentions of getting up early and taking advantage of that good morning light – I mean, I figure you don’t get to come to places like this every day, so I should be able to wake up a couple of hours early, just for these few days, right? Wrong. Lazy bum!
Sheila was lobbying everyone to hike down to the Colorado River, which was well over 15 miles round trip. I don’t think anyone was really up for that (except Sheila) after hiking over 12 miles the day before.
We eventually decided that Jen, Pat, and Kayla would relax in some of the lower pools above Havasu Falls with the kids while Sheila, Britny, Adam and I all went down to Mooney and then Beaver falls. I think Mooney Falls was only one mile past Havasu Falls which should have made it about 3 miles total from the lodge and then Beaver was 2 miles past Mooney (10 or 11 miles round trip from the village).
Shortly after passing Havasu Falls we came to the campground (where unfortunately, I did not take any pictures). Technically, the campground is much closer to all the falls, seems very big, was mostly shaded and had lots of sites right next to the creek. There’s even porto-potties and a tapped spring (no need to filter).
Naturally, the lodge was much nicer – I mean, hey, shower and AC, you can’t beat that. But you definitely pay much, much more for the lodge. I may consider camping next time, especially if I don’t let my aunt pick the time for the trip and we go when it’s a little cooler (but not too cool to still swim, oh, and not during monsoon season either).

Shortly after hiking through the campground we came to Mooney Falls (named for an old prospector who fell to his death there). Mooney Falls pours 200 feet over a cliff that blocks the canyon with the falls falling (duh, what else would they do, but what else could I say) down to the pools below.
If you look closely (click on the picture to enlarge it), you can see Adam and me standing just to the right of the falls.

Along the edge of the cliff are a few signs that caution you to not walk close to the edge. Looking at the cliff from this perspective it’s obvious why; the travertine deposited from the wider falls of long ago are actually overhanging. I thought we were walking far enough away from the edge, but if you look closely at this picture you can see that it probably wasn’t far enough after all. (btw, thanks to Sheila who obviously took some of the pictures with me in them).

We eventually made our way around to the side of the cliff and started looking for the way down. A sign indicated that we should “descend at our own risk” and so I went and looked for the trail that would take us down the cliff, only to find it dead-ended.

That was because the sign was actually above the trail!


A series of tunnels,…


…chains,…


…and ladders would take us down and through the cliff to the bottom. Glad I didn’t take the kids. But it was fun! I seriously can’t wait to do it again!

We made it to the bottom (which was very crowded, next time I’ll pick a time when kids and scouts are in school), briefly admired the falls (it was bad light, remember?) and headed on down towards Beaver Falls.
If you look closely you can see Sheila leading the line of waders and Britny and Adams bring up the rear. They’re actually following a travertine terrace, otherwise they’d all be up to at least their wastes. And the water wasn’t actually that color, it’s just the bad light. As always, the water was crystal-clear with a blue-green tint.


Britny and Adam made Sheila promise to keep the camera in the camera bag until we got to the falls so we could actually get there in time to still get back in time (she obviously manages to sneak it out a few times anyway). But the hike down was absolutely beautiful! We all voted to change the location of the Garden of Eden to this portion of the Canyon. It was just so green!


The creek itself is just beautiful and it can’t seem to go more than 10 yards without being interrupted by little travertine terraces and falls.


After multiple stream crossings, wading through waist- (probably everyone else’s knees) deep water, …

… and a couple of minor obstacles …

… we finally came to what we later found out were only the upper falls of Beaver Falls.


Man but that was the longest two miles ever! But what a fun little hike! And although I had heard only so-so reviews of Beaver Falls, they were well worth the hike.

Of course I spent so much time taking pictures of the falls when we finally got there that I really didn’t have any time to enjoy swimming around in the pools before we had to rush back again.

I wish we had had time to keep hiking down, but Shiela needed to get back for a dinner she had promised Kayla.

I often say that the Subway in Zion National Park is a great introductory hike to adventure hiking (I’ll review that later, and don’t get me wrong, you still need technical gear and an experienced guide), but this hike is an even more introductory adventure hike what with the obstacles and stream crossings. The only real “obstacle” is a short cliff you have to climb up using a rope and ladder. Of course, as you can see, the ladder, for some odd reason, only has two rungs (man, that was a lot of commas). We promised ourselves that next time we’ll bring some nails and another rung. Don’t forget to remind me.


For a good section of the canyon the walls and canyon floor were just covered in green vines. It’s a good thing I couldn’t take pictures on the way down because it would’ve been impossible to capture even a thousandth portion of the canyon’s beauty (plus we wouldn’t have gotten to Beaver Falls before dark).


On the way back I actually wanted to take pictures. This meant running ahead of everyone and taking pictures as they hiked towards me and then running ahead again (you can only stand so many pictures of people’s butts as they hike away from you). That was exhausting!

The canyon was seriously breathtaking! The greenery just climbed up the canyon walls and made the place seem more like a tropical garden then the middle of the desert.



Keeping the camera accessible for pictures on the way back also meant you were always a little nervous during those stream crossings that you’d lose your balance and be washing your camera prematurely.


When we got back to Mooney Falls everyone had actually cleared out a bit and the light was decent.


So while everyone else hiked back up for dinner I hung around and took some pictures of Mooney Falls.


Naturally, I (finally) got back to the lodge just after dark but couldn’t find anyone. I didn’t know where this restaurant was where everyone planned to eat so I found the hotel manager’s room and asked for a spare key so I could make myself some dinner while I waited.

This is a view of the canyon from the top of Mooney Falls.



When everyone finally returned from dinner (which I’m told was rather tasty) Jen told me the kids had had a great time playing in the pools and playing with some of the local village kids.
After filling my stomach and another refreshing shower it was off to bed again. Of course we had to pack our bags first, because tomorrow morning dark and early it would already be time to head back out again (sniffle, sniffle). Summary:
Distance traveled: Alan – 11 miles by foot; Jen & kids – about 4 miles by foot
Time traveled: I don’t even remember, a lot
Total cost today: $130(2nd of two nights)
Total cost so far:$532